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October 4, 2011

I dyed my hair last spring to get rid of all my white hair. However, during the process I neglected to wear gloves and my fingernails remained a dirty dark brown which eventually faded to a dirty tan for weeks. After that I decided to paint my fingernails but I've never had much luck with it. They normally got chipped or the polish gets rubbed before it can fully cure.

I don't like the really long tacky nails with a lot of baubles glued on top but rather the simple, short and sweet appeals to me. So I looked into how to keep the nails from smudging, bought the appropriate top coat and used Lily as my guinea pig. I used the head of a straight pin to make the dots. I wanted to use black but Lily wasn't buying into it. However, she loved the outcome so much she asked if I could take a picture to post on the blog (see above). I hope this will be the first of many experiments with nail art. Lily agrees. She and I went on a few nail art sites and she picked out a few favorites (see below). I'll have to make a special trip to Sally's Beauty Supply to get some new colors (all I have are aqua, hot pink, a gooey black and nude;)

Some great tips that helped the polish to keep from chipping, smudging and looking messy:

Sand down nails beforehand. When you paint don't go all the way to the cuticle. If you look at nail art photos you'll see that many of them apply the polish just above the nail bed and it looks professional. (But I didn't do this with Lily since her fingernails are so small to begin with).Apply two coats of polish (you don't have to wait in between coats). Apply fast drying top coat (A MUST)! Wait a full hour to do anything that requires you to use your fingernails (even though the topcoat says it fully dries in five minutes, it doesn't really cure for a good hour. So if you bump your fingernail it WILL push and wrinkle the polish.) When I did these things my nails did not chip and had a crisp, smooth and shiny look. And I've always struggled in the past.

Hope I've inspired you to go out and get your color on;) Here were a few of my favorites (a little more conservative compared to the above examples).

So many cool colors & styles! I've seen that pic of the shiny toe nails and they are actually Jamberry Nail Shields. http://www.jamberrynails.net/home/default.aspxA bit pricey but seems like it might be worth it in the long run. Haven't tried them myself, but I think they are supposed to last quite a while. Fun!

Hi there. I love this post it is so neat to see all you can do with nail polish. As a mom you can appreciate how you never have time to actually let the nail polish dry before moving on to the next thing and smudging it all up. For the days when I don't have time I found these nail stickers by Sally Hansen. It is actual nail polish that is a sticker you just put on your nails. It last for 3 weeks! I usually get that when I put it on my toes and a week on my fingers. I am rough on my hands! I think they are called Nail Effects. Have fun experimenting!Jai

Hi. I've always had lots of nail polish and I used to paint my toes every week... that was until about a year ago when I started looking into the actual ingredients of nail polish. I had wanted to paint my daughters nails and once I read all the awful stuff I decided against it. I didn't want those fumes in my house either so I stopped buying it. I've since then switched to NON-TOXIC paint, like piggy paint brand. There are not as many colors and it costs more- but the piece of mind is worth it. You should look into it. I think there are other brands too. :)

About Me

A blog by an artsy craftsy, penny pinching, party planning, playdating,
fashion finding, sci-fi loving, stay at home mother of three little
girls *and one little boy who always keeps her sewing machine plugged in and loves all
things charming.